Kelly: Dolphins need Tua to find the next level

If the Dolphins plan to avoid last year's December slide, the team will need better quarterbacking from Tua Tagovailoa during this critical stretch

There’s a next level of football, a volume to be turned up with quarterbacking that transforms the good to great, and helps the game managers evolve the NFL elites, and Tua Tagovailoa knows he hasn’t unlocked it yet.

The Miami Dolphins’ fourth-year starter is aware he hasn’t tapped into his greatness, unlocked his glow, and until he does Tagovailoa seemingly realizes it will be an uphill battle to reach his desired destination, which is the Super Bowl.

Unlocking that next level, which will help the Dolphins stabilize the NFL’s top-ranked offense — which has been stalling for most of this month — is what the franchise needs to prevent this year’s 8-3 start from being a repeat of last year’s 8-3 start, which was followed up with five straight losses and the Dolphins subsequently stumbling into the playoffs.

December football is where the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders, and we’ll soon learn plenty about these Dolphins, and the player they believe is their franchise quarterback.

Tagovailoa must clean up game

A healthy Tagovailoa has what it takes to enter the upper stratosphere of NFL quarterbacks. He spent most of the first half of 2023 as one of the front-runner for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, but his performance the past few weeks has silenced those talks.

Why? Because Tagovailoa’s haven't been good enough to carry a franchise.

In Miami’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he threw an interception near the end zone on what could have been a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter of that 31-17 loss.

In the Dolphins’ 21-14 loss to Kansas City, Tagovailoa misfired on a third-down pass to a wide open Cedrick Wilson Jr. on a play that could have tied the game. And then on fourth down of the same series he mishandled an off-the-mark snap from center Connor Williams, missing out on the chance to hit a wide open Jaylen Waddle, and the offense’s final play ended with him falling on the fumbled snap.

In Miami’s 20-13 win over the Raiders, he threw an interception and lost a fumble on a scramble. After the game Tagovailoa went to his defensive teammates inside the locker room and told them he needs to play better.

And in Friday’s 34-13 win over the Jets, a performance where he produced his lowest passer rating of the season (77.5), Tagovailoa threw two interceptions at the end of the half.

“I think it’s doing much more than what is asked. Trying to be a little too aggressive on certain things,” said Tagovailoa, who completed 21 of 30 passes for 243 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. “You just can’t do that.”

Where is Tua's elite presence?

Elite quarterbacks take care of the football, protecting possessions, and they rise to the occasion, delivering big throws and clutch plays when the game is in the balance.

Tagovailoa is completing 69 percent of his passes this season, throwing for 3,177 yards with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His 103.7 passer rating ranks him fifth in the NFL among qualifying quarterbacks, putting him behind San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (112.3), Dallas’ Dak Prescott (107.4), Denver’s Russell Wilson (104.3) and Minnsetoa’s Kirk Cousins (103.8).

That’s the lowest last year’s top-rated passer has been ranked all season.

There are few players, if anybody on the team more critical on themselves than Tagovailoa, and it’s seemingly something head coach Mike McDaniel has to be aware of, and is fighting against.

“One of the biggest obstacles he’s had to climb is frustration within his own game and making sure that doesn’t linger,” McDaniel said about Tagovailoa. “He’s as accountable of a player as there is. He’s absolutely, positively so angry with himself in those moments.”

But Tagovailoa knows there’s a next level to his game that he has been unable to unlock.

Until he does the Dolphins Super Bowl talk will remain just that — talk.

He must find the type of quarterbacking that separates the Patrick Mahomeses and Tom Bradys from the Alex Smiths and Matt Ryans of the NFL.

Tagovailoa knows who he believes he’s destined to be, and exactly how he needs to perform to get there.

“I feel good about my game. I’m not satisfied with what I’m doing right now. I know I can continue to get better,” Tagovailoa said. “Throughout these late stretches (my team) will need better ball from me. I need to do that.”